Tech Gadgets Reviews

John Chase of PopSci makes an interesting case for euthanizing inkjet printers and, not surprisingly, it comes down to cost. He cites the high price of ink (up to $5000 per gallon) as the main problem. A printer can be picked up for a few bucks – hell, if they were small enough, you’d probably find inkjet printers in cereal boxes – but the ink cartridges make Chanel No.5 look cheap. Up until now, the only alternative was to buy 3rd party replacements, something that the printer manufacturers have fought with cartel-like methods.

But Chase has another alternative, one that seems almost old-fashioned: Get somebody else to print your photos for you. Just like popping an exposed film into an envelope and sending it off to Kodak, digital photographers can order prints from Flickr, iPhoto and a slew of other online services, and they are cheaper than the DIY option.

At my local drugstore, a small chain, if you order more than 100 prints, they’re 15 cents each and available in a couple hours on archival paper with archival ink. And I can put my order through online.

How’s that for convenience and price? I just moved apartments and one thing that I left in the street was my printer. I don’t think I’ll be going back.

The Grouse: The Inkjet Refill Racket [PopSci]

Are you being polite while using your mobile phone? Whether you think you are or not, you may want to give a look at a new guide offered by SpinVox, which offers a service that allows spoken messages to be converted to text. Of course, the company also wants to make sure that when you are speaking on your mobile phone you are also doing so in a polite way.

SpinVox has offered a 10-point guide to polite mobile phone practices. The guide also introduces some interesting lingo to represent some of the most common offenses by mobile phone users. Loud speakers, taste blasters, spinal tappers, and chow chatterers are just some of the terms coined by SpinVox to describe some undesirable mobile phone practices.

It might be a good idea if you and a friend both read this guide. You may be able to then use some of these terms between the two of you, such as, “Wow, that’s a check-out blocker” or how about the guy who doesn’t answer his or her cell phone? Sure enough, you’ll be able to call that person out as a “ring cyclist”.

Check out the guide from the SpinVox press release.

There is nothing more painful than losing data on a laptop, especially when you’re traveling. All you have to do is experience one failed hard drive to know how much your files may mean to you. Some files may mean the difference between winning new business and keeping your job. Of course, backup solutions can be complex to set up, which has been an obstacle to many who want to keep an ongoing backup of their data.

SanDisk has now offered its solution to this problem. The company has introduced the SanDisk FlashBack Adapter. The adapter makes use of an SD flash memory card to backup data which uses an ExpressCard slot in a laptop. Once the user sets up what files they want to backup, the adapter will continuously back up data, taking note of any changes. That means no backups to schedule and an immediate file copy of any changes. The adapter will also give you access to individual file restores in case you accidentally delete a file.

If you want even more protection, the adapter will include an option to have data backed up online for an additional fee from BeInSync, Inc. The SanDisk FlashBack Adapter will retail for US$29.99 when it launches in the second quarter. The memory card for the adapter will be sold separately.

Read more from the SanDisk press release.

Brian’s Opinion

What a great move by SanDisk to offer this product. When people think of backup solutions, they always tend to think of solutions that use a hard drive. SanDisk is making the case that flash memory is also a viable solution with this product.

The thing I like the most about this product is the idea of a continuous backup. If you are going to lose data, then it usually will be right before your scheduled backup runs, which means you might be out a day or a week’s worth of work. That won’t be the case with the SanDisk FlashBack Adapter. If you make a change, then it’ll back it up right there. That’s great if you run into a situation where your hard drive takes a dive right before an important presentation.

$29.99 is not a bad price to pay for a little bit of insurance. Of course, depending upon how much memory you need, the memory card could outprice the adapter. Still, even being able to back up 1GB of critical files would be pretty useful. Considering how much 1GB of flash memory has dropped, this total backup solution by SanDisk would run somewhere around $50 or less. That’s not bad at all.

I can hear Dr. Evil now, “one billeeeon dollars”. Yup, $1 billion is what the in-game advertising market is expected to be in 2012. In 2007, the number was half that, of which $295 million was spent on in-game ads, versus games that were built around brands (advergames is the term of choice in the industry).

Luckily for the hardcore console or PC gamer, most of that in-game advertising is going to be in Web-based games. Personally, I don’t find in-game advertising in the more ’serious’ console games to be that intrusive. It’s not as if they stop the game to shove an ad in your face. It’s more of a brand-awareness type of advertising, and well, let’s face it, you just can’t avoid that.

Posted Mar 5th 2008 8:43AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Storage

This has got to stop, people. We just can’t stand to think of all these bits and bytes — not to mention their offspring — crammed into something like this Buffalo LinkStation Mini NAS. Dual 500GB 2.5-inch hard drives were just never meant to be in this close of proximity. Oh, it has RAID 0 / RAID 1? We suppose those 1’s and 0’s will just have to suffer. The LinkStation Mini LS-WS includes an FTP server, DLNA and iTunes capability, can share a printer of USB and reads memory cards and other mass storage devices. Buffalo plans to ship it in March for 85,000 yen (about $824 US).

[Via Engadget Japanese]

DLO HomeDock Music Remote ipod Dock With 2-Way RF Music Display Remote

The HomeDock Music Remote lets you dock your iPod by your stereo, then view and control all your music from the palm of your hand. You not only control iPod playback, but also see whats playing on the bright and easy-to-read remote display. The RF remote even works through walls and ceilings, giving you control from virtually anywhere up to 150 feet away.

Technorati Tags: DLO

[Microsoft TechFest 2008] Measuring people’s reputation is one of the trends of the Social Web, and this web application ranks the news according to political blogs opinions. The number of links is displayed for each article on the left side (blue) for the Liberals and on the right side for the Conservatives (red). The level of emotional charge is also displayed using small squares, from one to four (low level to high level). The emotional charge is determined by analyzing the natural language used in the blogs. This could be the next generation of aggregators, or an Uber-Digg. Arnd Christian Konig from MSR in Redmond, presented me the project. You can find more info on the project web page.

Sony Ericsson will be releasing a new GSM slider called the T303. It comes with average features such as a 1.8” display, 128 x 160 pixels, FM Radio,mp3 player, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a USB mass storage. The T303 slider doesn’t have a price or an exact release date yet.
[Source]

Sierra Wireless has announced the Compass 597 USB modem, which according to them “is smaller than any EV-DO Rev A USB modem in the market today.” Which I suppose as with anything mobile, a smaller size should be greatly appreciated. Less bulk to carry around and when it comes to a modem, its also less to protrude from your laptop and possibly get caught and damaged.

The Sierra Wireless Compass 597 USB modem may be small in size, but still has a full range of solid specs. The Compass 597 will offer speeds up to 3.1 Mbps down and 1.8 Mbps up, has a built-in microSD card slot for additional storage and features TRU-install automatic software which should make installation and use very simple. The Compass 597 also features Data Antenna, A-GPS, Data Traffic and PowerSave which offers power management. The Compass 597 will be available beginning in Q2 2008, no word yet on pricing.

Read [Sierra Wireless]

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The Olympus E-420 digital reflex camera aims to achieve a balance between the power and performance of a digital SLR while holding everything up in the body of a standard point-and-shoot camera. This 10 megapixel camera tips the scales at a mere 380 grams, making it up to 20% lighter than competing DSLRs. Some of the features include :-

• 2.7″ Live View LCD display
• On-Screen Autofocus
• Face Detection Technology
• HyperCrystal II Technology
• Shadow Adjustment Technology
• Perfect Shot Preview
• Olympus TruePic III Image Processor
• Dust Reduction system
• CompactFlash Type I & II, Microdrives, and xD-Picture Cards memory slots

The Olympus E-420 Digital SLR will be available this May, retailing for $499.99 just for the body alone. If you plan to include the ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens, it will cost another $100 while the ED 25mm f2.8 Zuiko Digital Lens with body retails for $699.99.